Project: DEER in the headlights.

[MAC]

I've been kickin around your forums for a while now, and slowly working on my own project. Well, I've finally reached the point where I need to polish up my work (and show it off too ). So I hope you guys like what I've done, and maybe can give me some advice on making it perfect.

Initially I just wanted to put some cathodes inside and carve my IGN in the side-panel so you could see the hardware, but it hasn't ended up that way... I'll give you the whole breakdown:

Hardware
Asus M2N-SLI Deluxe motherboard (really sexy looking, and supports new AM2 chipset, AWESOME VALUE!)
AMD Athalon 64 bit 3500+ (I went with a low end proc, because I plan to upgrade to an FX or dual core when they become more reasonably priced)
Asus 7600GS graphics card (passive cooling, no fans, also really sexy)
OCZ modstream 450W PSU (its modiular with UV reactive cables, and its chrome plated, how sweet it that)
OCZ high performance 667 MHz DDR2 ram (2 Gigs, really nice ramsinks)

Modware
Mutant mods 80mm LED fan (2x green)
Mutant mods biohazard fan grille
Mutant mods cold cathode 12 inches (2x blue, 1x UV)
Mutant mods blue EL wire (2x 5ft.)

I tried to keep it to as few companies as possible so that the style would flow and everything would look similar (im not sure if it made any difference at all to the look but meh). So its Asus, OCZ, and mutant mods for everything.

Like I said, I wasn't about to put all that gear into some non-descript, poorly ventilated DEER case. I've got pictures at home, and I'll post em asap.

Check back often

[MAC]

Ok, so I've got a ton of pictures and some time to kill at work

So here it is, the classic/plain/ugly deer case:

And here is my new gear (even the boxes that the stuff is in looks cooler than my case):
*EDIT*Freaking imageshack overwrote my picture with some little baby I'll post it again... sometime...

I ripped my case apart, every piece that could come off was taken off... and I started cuttin'. That was harder than it sounded, the cutting took me weeks, and I went through like 60 cut off disks (in hindsight it would have been better to get a harder cutting disk, but the ones I got were cheap anyways 20disks = ~8$CDN)

This is the start of the main side of the case:

The top of the case is also going to have a window to look down on the PSU/CPU/RAM:

I cut out the case fan grille in the back because if you put a fan on it it makes a really loud wooshing noise, I will be puting on a more quiet mutant mods fan grille instead... which also looks cooler

I also cut out the vent grille beside the pci slots, Im going to replace it with something nicer:

Finally, I bondo'd in those expansion ports (wow, they make that case look old :p), and sanded it smooth:

[MAC]

At this point the project was kinda starting to drag on and I hated to sit there and look at my new gear being so... un-overclocked So I moved to finish up the chasis and the top (the top holds the whole case together, so I needed it) so that I could at least get my hardware running.

So, next came paint... first I washed everything to get dirt/grease off the surface, and my girlfriend helped dry it (you REALLY dont want any wet spots when you start to paint):

Next, prime it (man, we went through a lot of primer):

I painted the motherboard anchor screws, even though its impossible to see them once the motherboard is on at least I know they're there :

We painted all the insides matte black, it turned out really good:

We started prepping for the outter red colour, we put silicone over the front panel LEDs (they we're glued to the front, so I couldn't remove them), and popped out the power and reset buttons:

We taped off everything on the inside of the case, and started painting the red:

[MAC]

We finished up the red and I popped the top back on the chassis, I was happy with the colour combo:

We picked the silicone out of the front panel LEDs, it came out cleanly and easily with a toothpick:

Thats a lot better :

Installed the motherboard mounts (this motherboard requires 9 of them!?!?! )

Like I said, no one can see them but I know they're there :

[MAC]

So I started installing the hardware (yay!)... everything went pretty smoothly, the AMD heatsink almost gave me a heart attack (naturally) but it all worked out nicely:

I still get a kick out of my PSU, look at the reflection :

I got my hardware running, and everything is awesomely fast

Not quite done though, I still need to:
- finish (sand, bondo, sand...sand...sand...) the sides
- figure out how im going to manage all those cables
- and install the light and fan switches in the front and back

I hope you like it so far, keep checkin back

[silverdemon]

looking very nice so far!! good job

[simon275]

One very nice looking deer case. A nice simple but soild mod. Little bit of painting and throw in some decent parts. Pretty cool case oringally with the Nvidia logo's on it.

I can't wait to see how you do the side window.

I wish the girls I have been with are interested in modding or computers for that that. But any ho nice mod can't wait to see the next step in the mod.

[d_stilgar]

Are there pictures here? Is it just my computer that can't see the pics?

[AKA_RA]

wow, that is the exact same model case i had for my first computer, and even the paint scheme you chose looks similar to the one i used

[b4i7]

heh nothin better than gettin your girlfriend to help in the modding....my girlfriend just looks at me like im retarded and asks me what the point is of modding